Ambulance automobile



H. T. NICOU AMBULANCE AUTOMOBILE Filed Feb. 23, 1337 Patented Jan. 31, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application February 23, 1937, Serial No. 127,219 In Sweden February 7, 1936 3 Claims.

In connection with ambulance automobiles it has been proposed to provide a box or boxes inside the vehicle for receiving a reserve stretcher or stretchers. This invention relates to ambulance automobiles of this character, and more particularly to ambulance automobiles where the dimensions of the box or each box are sufiicient for receiving an undivided or unfoldable stretcher, so that the length of the box agrees with that of the stretcher.

The object of this invention is to permit the use of a wall or walls or part of a wall of such a box as a device for supporting a stretcher on a certain level above the floor of the vehicle, as for instance, on such a level as to allow the placing of another stretcher below said supporting device, either directly on the floor of the vehicle or on a lower supporting device.

To this end a longitudinally extending wall or walls of the box or part of such a wall is removable or adjustable in such a way that it can be placed or moved to a horizontal or substantially horizontal position for supporting a stretcher as above stated. A special object of the invention is to allow the shifting of the movable wall from its box closing position to its stretcher supporting position, or vice versa, to be effected simply and easily. A further object of the invention is to cause the stretcher contained in the box to be positively moved with the wall when the latter is brought to its horizontal position, so that it will be immediately ready for use. According to the invention the removal of a stretcher from a box may be efiected very quickly, by a single manipulation, without the aid of any additional carriers or other auxiliary means.

The invention i illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which shows in a somewhat diagrammatic way a preferred embodiment of the invention. Fig. 1 is a vertical cross section of a portion of the body of an ambulance automobile according to the invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view.

With reference to the drawing, the numeral l indicates one lateral wall of the vehicle, 2 is the uppermost portion of a wheel, and 3 is the surrounding wheel cover. Provided above said wheel cover beside the lateral wall I is a longitudinally extending box 4 for receiving a stretcher 5. Said box is bounded towards the interior of the vehicle by a lateral wall 6 parallel to the lateral wall i, that is, vertical, and a horizontal top wall 1. In the drawing, said two walls 6 and 1 are formed as an integral member. They are not rigidly secured to the floor of the vehicle, nor to any wall thereof, but are held in place by appropriate locking means, not shown. The lateral wall 6 of the box carries at either end a horizontal pin 8 engaging a vertical guide slot 9 provided at the front and rear wall of the vehicle, respectively. The guide slot may, preferably, be 5 formed in a metallic member, as shown in the drawing, having at its upper end a short horizontal slot l0 branched off from the slot 9 which faces towards the interior of the vehicle. The pins 8 are situated at a distance from the bottom edge of the wall 6 which corresponds to the distance betwen the closed end of slot l0 and the lateral wall I of the vehicle. At its upper end the wall 6 carries a pair of handles II.

By means of the handles II it is easy to lift the Wall 6 together with the top wall I with the pins 8 sliding in the respective slots 9 while simultaneously pulling the wall 6 towards the middle of the vehicle, and lowering its top end. When during this combined movement, the pins 8 reach the level of the horizontal slots l0 and the bottom end of the wall 6 comes into contact with the wall I, the continued lowering of the top end of wall 6 will cause the pins 8 to engage the respective horizontal slots I 0 as a result of the above said placing of the pins. When the wall 6 is in its horizontal position, the bottom end thereof abuts against the underside of rigid stops l2 secured to the wall I, while the top end of the wall 6 rests on a rigid stop l3 provided at the front wall of the vehicle, and the remainder of the wall 6 is carried by other means, not shown.

The stretcher 5 as contained in the box 4, is connected to the wall 6 in such a way as to be positively moved therewith when the wall is shifted from its vertical to its horizontal position, and is left standing on the wall in its horizontal position ready for use. In this position the top wall 1 constitutes a lateral barrier for the stretcher on the side thereof facing the middle of the vehicle. A lateral displacement of the stretcher toward the other side is prevented by means of a bar 14.

The guide slots 9 are of such a vertical length as to carry the outswung wall 5 on a level above 45 the floor of the vehicle which is sufficient to allow a stretcher l5 with a patient resting thereon to be placed below the wallfi when in its horizontal position.

Modifications may be made without departing 50 from the principle of the invention. Thus, for instance, instead of guiding the wall 6 by means of pins and slots, some type of a pawl and ratchet controlled guiding device may be used which permits a step by step shifting movement of the wall with the stretcher. Instead of an undivided wall 6 I may use a wall consisting of two or more parts connected together by longitudinally extending hinges allowing the uppermost part of the wall to be folded outwardly without first lifting same, to be then pulled out while carrying the remaining lower part or parts with it. In this case the lowermost part of the wall 6 may comprise a frame or the like normally depending inside a stationary lower wall portion so as to be hidden thereby. A further modification involves the provision of a wall 6 that can be removed as a whole to be then placed in a horizontal position on suitable supports as and for the supporting of a stretcher. In neither case is it necessary to rigidly connect the lateral wall 6 to the top wall I. The latter may be stationary, in which case only the lateral wall 6 proper is movable in any of the ways above described.

A variation of the level of the wall 6 when in its horizontal position may be effected, for instance, by forming the stationary guide member with one or more additional horizontal slots. Such an additional slot is shown at 18 Fig. 2.

In order to promote the placing of a patient on a stretcher resting on the outswung wall 6, provisions may be made, whereby the wall 6 may be first placed in an inclined position sloping towards the rear end of the vehicle to allow the patient to be placed on it, whereupon the rear end of the stretcher is lifted until it comes on a level with the front end thereof. To this end the guide member containing the slots 9, ID at the rear end of the vehicle may be vertically adjustable, together with a corresponding stop [2 adjacent the laterial wall of the vehicle, as for instance, by carrying said two elements on a vertically slidable standard or some other support, provided with an automatic ratchet gear allowing the lifting movement while preventing the lowering movement. Said ratchet gear, however, should be so arranged as to allow its releasing by hand, when it is desired to restore the movable wall from its horizontal or stretcher supporting position to its vertical or box closing position.

What I claim is:

1. An ambulance automobile having in combination, a body, a longitudinally extending box along a lateral wall of the body for receiving a stretcher, said box having a lateral wall exposed to the inside of the body which is movable to 2.

substantially horizontal position for supporting the stretcher, a pin and slot guide to enable the shifting of said wall to said last mentioned position, said guide comprising longitudinally extending pins at opposite ends of said wall and stationary vertical slots having horizontal branches at their upper ends extending towards the middle of the body so as to permit the wall to be lifted sufficiently to move the pins to a position right opposite said horizontal branch slots and to be then folded towards the inside of the vehicle to a horizontal position while bringing the pins into engagement with said horizontal slots.

2. An ambulance automobile having in combination, a body, a longitudinally extending box along a lateral wall of the body for receiving a stretcher, said box having a lateral wall exposed to the inside of the body which is movable to a substantially horizontal position for supporting the stretcher, a pin and slot guide to enable the shifting of said wall to said last mentioned position, said guide comprising longitudinally extending pins at opposite ends of said wall and stationary vertical slots having horizontal branches at their upper ends extending towards the middle of the body, said pins being situated on a distance from the bottom edge of said movable wall which is equal to the distance between the closed ends of the horizontal slots and the lateral wall of the body, so that a lifting of the movable wall to a position to bring the pins right opposite the horizontal slots and a subsequent folding out of said wall to a horizontal position will cause the pins to enter said horizontal slots due to the engagement of the bottom edge of the movable wall with the lateral wall of the body.

3. An ambulance automobile having in combination, a body, a box inside said body for receiving a stretcher, said box having a movable wall which may be shifted to a position for supporting the stretcher on a level above the floor of the body, means including pins carried by the movable wall and stationary guides having vertical slots engaged by said pins for guiding the wall during said movement, said guides having horizontally extending slots branching from said vertical slots at different levels to receive said pins after corresponding lifting of the movable wall in order to support said wall on various levels above the floor of the body.

HANS TEODOR NICOU. 

